Right or wrong, we want to believe the best about celebrities.
Which is why some people still defend O.J. Simpson.

But Kramer a racist? Say it ain’t so, Cosmo.

Michael Richards, the gifted physical comedian who for the better
part of a decade played one of the most beloved characters in TV
history _ Cosmo Kramer on “Seinfeld” _ just had a very bad weekend.

Either he snapped, failed miserably at trying to be funny, or showed
a very real and very ugly side of his personality we didn’t know
existed. And one we don’t want to know exists.

Richards stunned an audience at West Hollywood’s Laugh Factory on
Friday by going volcanic at a couple of hecklers who happened to be
black. It wasn’t clear what they said to set him off _ one report
called it good-natured, another said they yelled that he wasn’t
funny. But any question of whether they deserve part of the blame _
and hecklers often deserve what they get _ the point became moot with
the vehemence of Richards’ response.

Someone started rolling video, and the video is readily available on
TMZ.com.

“Shut up!” Richards yelled. “Fifty years ago we’d have you upside
down with a (expletive) fork up your (expletive).”
Whoa. He was like a boulder that just came loose and started rolling
down the mountain, picking up speed. Richards then repeatedly
bellowed at the top of his lungs. “He’s a (N-word),” Nervous laughs
became intakes of breath.

People started leaving as Richards tried to temper his remarks, only
going off again when one of the men yelled “That was uncalled for.”
More racial insults flew. Richards finally stalked off stage, and
someone _ presumably a manager _ went up to apologize (though,
amazingly, this same venue let Richards perform there again on
Saturday; it went off without incident).

It was all squeamishly bizarre. And because this was a public figure
spewing hate in a public place, somebody needs to do some honest
explaining.
The concept of the celebrity breakdown isn’t new, but Richards, and
Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic rant earlier this year, have taken it to a
new, strange place. After all, this isn’t a spaced-out Mariah Carey
handing out Popsicles on MTV in 2001, before doing a brief striptease
and saying, “I just want one day off when I can go swimming and eat
ice cream and look at rainbows.”

Nor is it a drugged-up Robert Downey Jr. breaking into a neighbor’s
house to take a little nap. Like we all haven’t done that.
There have been some classics, but most of them made us chuckle, not
wince. Farrah Fawcett basically not knowing her name on David
Letterman’s show. Anne Heche wandering around Fresno, declaring she
was God and offering rides in her spaceship. Margot Kidder taking out
her teeth and wandering among L.A.’s homeless wasn’t so funny _ if
only I don’t want to think of Margot Kidder without her teeth.

Thankfully we’ve had Michael Jackson’s mostly funny life the past
decade to make up for it.

They were all good for a few laughs because, though sad in some
cases, they were essentially hurting themselves. Our sympathy reserve
is, rightly, very limited for celebrities.

But this is different. As a white-Euro man, I have no clue about the
feelings generated by some idiot celebrity telling a black man,
before a room full of people, that he deserves lynching. And
Richards, even if he flees to the old “snapping-under-pressure”
defense, deserves further calling out. It seems an unnecessary
reminder, but celebrities aren’t the people they play. Period. So why
is it so shocking to see them act like jerks?

But the race issue makes this worse for Richards. We’re not allowed
to talk about race in this country. Everyone is afraid of offending
by asking honest questions, or giving honest opinions. Comedians blur
the line further, especially with the so-called “N” word. Dave
Chappelle uses it, and we fall of our chairs laughing. Of course,
being a matter of context, it’s funny.

Even a white guy could possibly get away with it, if done in the
proper context. However Richards was going after two guys personally,
going so far as to remind them we used to lynch them not long ago.

Maybe Richards needs a fork in his (expletive). If nothing else, to
see if his career is cooked.

Three women have told the New York Times that music mogul Russell Simmons raped them, the latest in a cascade of serious allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men in entertainment, media, politics and elsewhere.